SF Giants look like their old selves in walk-off win against Arizona Diamondbacks

SAN FRANCISCO — Stuck in mediocrity, the Giants always seem to be one big hit away from hitting their stride. Wednesday afternoon, they found those big hits.

Brandon Crawford came to the plate with the bases loaded, one out, the score tied in the ninth inning. He smashed Mark Melancon’s first pitch 300 feet into right field, the ball deflected off outfielder Daulton Varsho’s glove to score Brandon Belt from third base and the Giants rallied from a three-run deficit to beat the Diamondbacks, 4-3, on Wednesday afternoon.

It was the Giants’ first walk-off win since June 8 and just their fourth win of the season when trailing after seven innings. In many ways, this win was more than just a satisfying comeback win against a pesky Diamondbacks team. It was a throwback to the 2021 season, when every string pulled seemed to pay off. When no lead felt insurmountable.

“It’s something we’ve definitely needed for a while now,” Belt said. “(Something) we were able to do a lot of last year.”

Through the first six innings, the Giants looked cleared for another listless loss.

Arizona scored three runs off Sammy Long, the Giants’ second reliever on a scheduled bullpen day.

The first punch came in the second inning when Varsho sent a triple off the brick wall in right field to score Jake McCarthy and Buddy Kennedy, who doubled and singled, respectively. After a quick mound visit with Giants pitching coach Andrew Bailey, Long notched two soft groundouts and a strikeout to end the threat.

In the next inning, Ketel Marte’s solo home run in the third inning put Arizona up 3-0.

Giants manager Gabe Kapler didn’t see much wrong with Long’s stuff, maybe an imperfect curveball and a few missed locations. Just decent swings by the opposing team.

All the while, the Giants managed just one hit — a Thairo Estrada double into the alley on a two-strike pitch up and away — against starter Zac Gallen. More familiar with Gallen’s offerings a third time through the order, the Giants found some cracks to open offensively.\

Belt hit a solo home run in the seventh inning for the Giants’ first run. Then Estrada singled for his second hit of the day and a slumping Mike Yastrzemski doubled to set up David Villar’s sacrifice fly, cutting the deficit to 3-2. The Diamondbacks went to lefty All-Star Joe Mantiply, who struck out Crawford and keep it a one-run game.

But the pitching change opened up the playbook for Kapler and his staff to play the pinch-hit game.

“It’s about the puzzle, and it’s about, ultimately, who we’re pitch hitting with and why they’re on our roster,” Kapler said.

With Mantiply in, Kapler emptied the right-handed hitters on the bench in the eighth inning. Wilmer Flores started with a tying, pinch-hit solo home run to left field. Darin Ruf, pinch-hitting for LaMonte Wade Jr., followed that up with a single, forcing the Diamondbacks to pull Mantiply for right-hander Keynan Middleton to face righty Yermin Mercedes, pinch-hitting for Joc Pederson. Mercedes struck out.

Left-hander Luis Gonzalez, pinch-hitting for Austin Slater, grounded into a double play to end the inning. But they’d chipped away just enough to build the momentum they’ve been searching for.

Down a run heading into the ninth, Belt singled and Yastrzemski doubled. With a spent bench, pitcher Yunior Marte would have been the pinch running option for a hobbled Belt, who was stopped at third base on Yastrzemski’s double. With a strikeout under his belt, Melancon, who pitched out of the Giants bullpen from 2017-19, walked Villar on four pitches to load the bases and set up a potential double-play. But Crawford spoiled Arizona’s strategy with a liner to right that would have scored Belt even if it had been caught.

“We battled and didn’t give up the entire game,” Belt said. “To come back in the last inning and to see the whole team clicking a little bit, that’s the kind of baseball we have to play to win ballgames.”

The bullpen had to keep its end of the bargain, too, with options running out as the possibility of extra innings loomed. But Long’s three earned runs were the only ones Arizona would sniff.

John Brebbia, the Giants’ “opener”, gave up one hit in a scoreless first inning. And after Long’s long 1 2/3 inning outing in which he gave up five hits along with those three runs, Tyler Rogers, Jarlin Garcia, Mauricio Llovera and Camilo Doval combined to allow two hits over the final 6 1/3 scoreless innings.

“The ‘pen has kind of been the hero,” Kapler said. “They threw up zeros after Long came out of the game in the same way you’d want your No. 1 starter to throw up zeros.”